---
title: Creating Your First Dashboard
hide_title: true
sidebar_position: 1
version: 1
---

import useBaseUrl from "@docusaurus/useBaseUrl";

## Creating Your First Dashboard

This section is focused on documentation for end-users who will be using Superset
for the data analysis and exploration workflow
 (data analysts, business analysts, data
scientists, etc). In addition to this site, [Preset.io](http://preset.io/) maintains an updated set of end-user
documentation at [docs.preset.io](https://docs.preset.io/).

This tutorial targets someone who wants to create charts and dashboards in Superset. We’ll show you
how to connect Superset to a new database and configure a table in that database for analysis.
You’ll also explore the data you’ve exposed and add a visualization to a dashboard so that you get a
feel for the end-to-end user experience.

### Connecting to a new database

Superset itself doesn't have a storage layer to store your data but instead pairs with
your existing SQL-speaking database or data store.

First things first, we need to add the connection credentials to your database to be able
to query and visualize data from it. If you're using Superset locally via
[Docker compose](/docs/installation/docker-compose), you can
skip this step because a Postgres database, named **examples**, is included and
pre-configured in Superset for you.

Under the **+** menu in the top right, select Data, and then the _Connect Database_ option:

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_01_add_database_connection.png")} width="600" />{" "} <br/><br/>

Then select your database type in the resulting modal:

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_02_select_database.png" )} width="600" />{" "} <br/><br/>

Once you've selected a database, you can configure a number of advanced options in this window,
or for the purposes of this walkthrough, you can click the link below all these fields:

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_03a_database_connection_string_link.png" )} width="600" />{" "} <br/><br/>

Once you've clicked that link you only need to specify two things (the database name and SQLAlchemy URI):


<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_03b_connection_string_details.png" )} width="600" />{" "} <br/><br/>

As noted in the text below the form, you should refer to the SQLAlchemy documentation on
[creating new connection URIs](https://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/12/core/engines.html#database-urls)
for your target database.

Click the **Test Connection** button to confirm things work end to end. If the connection looks good, save the configuration
by clicking the **Connect** button in the bottom right corner of the modal window:

Congratulations, you've just added a new data source in Superset!

### Registering a new table

Now that you’ve configured a data source, you can select specific tables (called **Datasets** in Superset)
that you want exposed in Superset for querying.

Navigate to **Data ‣ Datasets** and select the **+ Dataset** button in the top right corner.

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_08_sources_tables.png" )} />

A modal window should pop up in front of you. Select your **Database**,
**Schema**, and **Table** using the drop downs that appear. In the following example,
we register the **cleaned_sales_data** table from the **examples** database.

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_09_add_new_table.png" )} />

To finish, click the **Add** button in the bottom right corner. You should now see your dataset in the list of datasets.

### Customizing column properties

Now that you've registered your dataset, you can configure column properties
 for how the column should be treated in the Explore workflow:

- Is the column temporal? (should it be used for slicing & dicing in time series charts?)
- Should the column be filterable?
- Is the column dimensional?
- If it's a datetime column, how should Superset parse
the datetime format? (using the [ISO-8601 string pattern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601))

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_column_properties.png" )} />

### Superset semantic layer

Superset has a thin semantic layer that adds many quality of life improvements for analysts.
The Superset semantic layer can store 2 types of computed data:

1. Virtual metrics: you can write SQL queries that aggregate values
from multiple column (e.g. `SUM(recovered) / SUM(confirmed)`) and make them
available as columns for (e.g. `recovery_rate`) visualization in Explore.
Aggregate functions are allowed and encouraged for metrics.

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_sql_metric.png" )} />

You can also certify metrics if you'd like for your team in this view.

2. Virtual calculated columns: you can write SQL queries that
customize the appearance and behavior
of a specific column (e.g. `CAST(recovery_rate) as float`).
Aggregate functions aren't allowed in calculated columns.

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_calculated_column.png" )} />

### Creating charts in Explore view

Superset has 2 main interfaces for exploring data:

- **Explore**: no-code viz builder. Select your dataset, select the chart,
customize the appearance, and publish.
- **SQL Lab**: SQL IDE for cleaning, joining, and preparing data for Explore workflow

We'll focus on the Explore view for creating charts right now.
To start the Explore workflow from the **Datasets** tab, start by clicking the name
of the dataset that will be powering your chart.

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_launch_explore.png" )} /><br/><br/>

You're now presented with a powerful workflow for exploring data and iterating on charts.

- The **Dataset** view on the left-hand side has a list of columns and metrics,
scoped to the current dataset you selected.
- The **Data** preview below the chart area also gives you helpful data context.
- Using the **Data** tab and **Customize** tabs, you can change the visualization type,
select the temporal column, select the metric to group by, and customize
the aesthetics of the chart.

As you customize your chart using drop-down menus, make sure to click the **Run** button
to get visual feedback.

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_explore_run.jpg" )} />

In the following screenshot, we craft a grouped Time-series Bar Chart to visualize
our quarterly sales data by product line just by clicking options in drop-down menus.

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_explore_settings.jpg" )} />

### Creating a slice and dashboard

To save your chart, first click the **Save** button. You can either:

- Save your chart and add it to an existing dashboard
- Save your chart and add it to a new dashboard

In the following screenshot, we save the chart to a new "Superset Duper Sales Dashboard":

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_save_slice.png" )} />

To publish, click **Save and goto Dashboard**.

Behind the scenes, Superset will create a slice and store all the information needed
to create your chart in its thin data layer
 (the query, chart type, options selected, name, etc).

 <img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_first_dashboard.png" )} style={{width: "100%", maxWidth: "500px"}} />

 To resize the chart, start by clicking the Edit Dashboard button in the top right corner.

 <img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_edit_button.png" )} width="300" />

Then, click and drag the bottom right corner of the chart until the chart layout snaps
into a position you like onto the underlying grid.

 <img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_chart_resize.png" )} style={{width: "100%", maxWidth: "500px"}} />

 Click **Save** to persist the changes.

Congrats! You’ve successfully linked, analyzed, and visualized data in Superset. There are a wealth
of other table configuration and visualization options, so please start exploring and creating
slices and dashboards of your own

ֿ
### Manage access to Dashboards


Access to dashboards is managed via owners (users that have edit permissions to the dashboard)

Non-owner users access can be managed two different ways:

1. Dataset permissions - if you add to the relevant role permissions to datasets it automatically grants implicit access to all dashboards that uses those permitted datasets
2. Dashboard roles - if you enable **DASHBOARD_RBAC** [feature flag](/docs/configuration/configuring-superset#feature-flags) then you be able to manage which roles can access the dashboard
   - Granting a role access to a dashboard will bypass dataset level checks. Having dashboard access implicitly grants read access to all the featured charts in the dashboard, and thereby also all the associated datasets.
   - If no roles are specified for a dashboard, regular **Dataset permissions** will apply.

<img src={useBaseUrl("/img/tutorial/tutorial_dashboard_access.png" )} />

### Customizing dashboard

The following URL parameters can be used to modify how the dashboard is rendered:
- `standalone`:
  - `0` (default): dashboard is displayed normally
  - `1`: Top Navigation is hidden
  - `2`: Top Navigation + title is hidden
  - `3`: Top Navigation + title + top level tabs are hidden
- `show_filters`:
  - `0`: render dashboard without Filter Bar
  - `1` (default): render dashboard with Filter Bar if native filters are enabled
- `expand_filters`:
  - (default): render dashboard with Filter Bar expanded if there are native filters
  - `0`: render dashboard with Filter Bar collapsed
  - `1`: render dashboard with Filter Bar expanded

For example, when running the local development build, the following will disable the
Top Nav and remove the Filter Bar:
`http://localhost:8088/superset/dashboard/my-dashboard/?standalone=1&show_filters=0`
